His beloved witch

Chapter 28: Her story - Part I

-Andre-

"I had an abortion, Andre."

Blanche looked straight at me when she said it. The fire in her eyes was a challenge. She was expecting a reaction from me, a bad one considering her shields against me were high.

I held my breath and did not move even a muscle. Blanche closed her eyes before speaking again.

"I am barren because I had an abortion when I was sixteen... during a ritual that granted me eternal youth... and…" She could not say more. Her voice broke.

I blinked, absorbing the information.

That story does not match with the female I have met. Blanche is not someone cold, willing to sacrifice others, even less a loved one for personal gain. No, that is totally out of her character.

My witch is kind and loving. I know that. I have seen that.

Was it not Blanche who protected Clara, the secret werewolf princess? Was it not Blanche who revealed the wrongdoings of her own grandmother? Was it not she who tried to protect the werewolf Kingdom from a war with me?

Blanche is not the female she is trying to portrait now. I am sure there is more of that story, but I could not help the number of questions that formed in my head…

Who was the father? Where the f**k is he now? Did you love him? Do you still love him? And, more… But the sadness in her voice kept me from asking or commenting.

Blanche was still waiting for some response from me. And I sensed fear from her. Is my reaction what she is afraid of?

She straightened her back, hardened her eyes before glancing at the door and then at me. Does she think I will leave her? After everything I have said... she cannot trust me. However, all I have done so far is talk... I have the chance to prove myself now.

"Until recently, I thought the sacrificed one for this gift… was my baby, but it was the pure soul of my mother.” Again, that is not a reflection of her. I need to know more.

She said "gift" with despise.

Blanche swallowed nothing and pressed her lips tightly. A long pause followed her last statement, and briefly, the facade fell. I could see her pain. To protect herself from my gaze, she turned her face away from me.

"s**t. Speaking about this does never get easier." Blanche clenched her fists.

"If this is so painful… if you do not want to talk about it…" I placed a hand on top of hers, but she retracted her hand.

“Why have you not left me?”

I am even offended by such a question but tried to hide it. Although, even my Lycan got angry.

“I will not leave, and I will not let go," I stated firmly.

“You need to know more, then. A lot more.”

“I am getting angry. You think very little of me, female.” I cannot hide my feelings for long when I am with her.

Blanche gave me a sad smile, acknowledging the effort. But I know she prefers me, honest.

“Even if you understand, others will not, and your enemies will use my information to attack you.”

"That is why I need to know everything, Blanche. The information can prepare me for any attack."

I caressed her cheek with my palm, and she leaned on it. It was a brief, intimate moment, but she pulled apart. Blanche does not want to trust me.

"I was a fool for coming here." She moved her legs out of the cover, getting ready to stand up. "My past will catch up and hurt you one day. Just like Sabrina did now..."

I wrapped my arms around her before she could leave the bed.

"Stay. You need to rest." I pleaded. My chest was against her back while my chin rested on her shoulder, keeping her from leaving the bed.

If I let her go now, even if it was just to the closet to get changed, I feel I would have failed her somehow.

Her body relaxed, and she allowed me to pull her into bed with me again.

“This is progress.” I could not hide a smile. “You listened to me, and you care…”

My witch sighed at last at my words. She looked at the ceiling, pondering what to do before looking at me with deep emotion.

"I want to tell you everything." Blanche made her mind.

I nodded and waited.

“At sixteen, I went to a boarding school in the west. Young witches and warlocks from the most prestigious families of the entire Kingdom went there. Talented, wealthy… powerful…"

She had a hard time fitting in there. Blanche was born in the poor area of her Kingdom. She told me more about the story of her parents. I had overheard some when Charles and Francisco argued in Blanche’s lab.

I did not expect myself to hate her father and grandmother for what they did. There is part of the blame on Kassandra, yes, but what kind of male abandons a young female and his unborn child? Spells aside, a true male does not do that.

Then she explained to me what Kassandra did to Charles, and to her mother. The misunderstanding around child support which never got to her and her mother, and the first break-up of Charles with Sabrina. 

“I was twelve when I met Charles and his family. Although, I had always known who he was to me. And it was not because he looked for me, his mother insisted...”

Blanche admitted her fascination with the lifestyle the Reyes family had in the north, considering her humble home back in the East. Her mother worked in the factory, Witchy Witch, in the line of manufacturing at first. And her eyes shone when she remembered the first of many promotions Miriam Lebrun got in that company.

There was pride in Blanche’s smile when she told me her mother started working in the accounting department. Miriam got the job of an assistant after some years there. Things got better for them regarding income. She was no longer alone for so much time. How lonely was she while growing up? Her mother was working to pay the bills. Two jobs, extra shifts, or more hours in the company... Anything to meet month's end.

Blanche sees Francisco as a friend. He was not her stepfather. Her mother and he were not together while she was growing up. They were together in the last years of Miriam's life.

“I wanted Charles's approval…" Blanche seemed ashamed of that wish. “I disobeyed my mother and went to that school anyway…"

She does not acknowledge Charles as her father. Not openly, at least. He is plain Charles to her.

“There is nothing wrong with that. Charles should have… " I tried to touch her, but she moved her head, no. I should not interrupt her.

She shrugged her shoulders and moved further away from me, even though we were on the same bed.

"It does not matter to me anymore.”

Blanche looked away, and when she looked back at me again, I knew something wrong happened to her.

“I met Damian Rousseau in that school.” She gave me the name of my enemy. “He was the school’s bully. That tells a lot, but I..." Blanche scoffed, annoyed to herself.

"Damian was nice to me. Maybe because I was rebellious according to the standards of the school. I used to get in trouble all the time, and I did not even understand the reason most of the time, or perhaps it was because I was not afraid of fighting or talking back..."

"Sometimes, I speak without thinking, and I can be slapped or punched... I will always talk back. I do not have a filter... some... times." 

"Did he choose me because of that? I do not really know…," She stared at a spot on the ceiling without blinking. "I thought he was my friend... but not much later... He kissed me. Damian said he loved me… and..."

Blanche exhaled; she looked at me once more, checking I was still there before staring back at the roof.

"I believed him..."

Oh, Goddess. I do not want to hear that she loved him. I really do not, but I asked for this.

"I got pregnant. My first time... and I got pregnant..." She chuckled without humor.

It was like a hot knife pierced my heart, and I could not scream. I knew my jealousy would hurt, but I did not expect to feel so bad.

Another man had her, and she carried his child! Still, I kept the impassive face I have mastered over the years. I cannot tell her how jealous I am right now.

"Damian spoke with his family, the Rousseau family... He proposed to me and got authorization from Kassandra and Charles to take me out of the school without my mother’s permission… She was against it. She wanted me back at home with her."

Francisco said something about that family to Charles.

"Damian was in his senior year at school and got graduated early despite his grades... The power and connections his family had allowed him to do whatever he wanted..." Blanche paused again.

She sighed again before resuming her story.

"So, I moved into Rousseau's family house in the North."

What happened there, Blanche? What did he do to you? What did that family do to you? I had those questions in my throat when she paused again.

“More than once, someone from his family tried to humiliate me." Why? She was just a teenager.

"I guess because of my pregnancy, I was… not exactly myself…" Blanche took a moment to breathe. "I was not strong enough to protect myself or my child." She wanted to cry.

"I thought Damian was protecting me from them, so I avoided his family and locked myself in my room as he told me. He brought me the food, clothes, medicine… anything I would need or ask. He was my everything...”

My blood left my body, and my right hand was shaking. I want to break something. But I must calm down. This is not about me; it is about her.

“I believed all the crap Damian said to me... And when I noticed…" Blanche lowered her gaze and paused again to swallow the knot in her throat. “If he did not want to, I could not leave not only the house but the room... I had no saying in anything. He decided everything… from what I would wear to what I would eat… Even if I did not like it…"

My anger was growing.

"I was pregnant… In my head, he was taking care of me. He loved me... I did not want to see all the signs."

My anger melted when she turned to see me. Tears were forming in her eyes, but Blanche blushed and pulled herself together to look strong again.

"Damian was a dark warlock…”

I am not sure of what they are or do. I can assume all of them are evil.

"Despite their hair." Blanche grabbed a strand of her long silver-white hair. Hers was shining, healthy, and smooth. "They do not have the same blessing from Mother Nature. So, they feed on the magic of others. They practice illegal magic for that..."

I should not make assumptions since her story is not over yet, but my mind is already imagining what happened. This Damian fed himself from her magic and killed their child... But what about the ritual of eternal youth?

"Most of the time, one would expect a dark warlock to be violent and physically abusive. Kassandra survived a dark warlock, so I had that idea, and most of the witches and warlocks think the same... but you do not need to break bones to break a soul… not at the beginning at least."

I did not know what to do with myself and my Lycan. I feel so violent again.

"Someone like Damian, who came from a long lineage of influential warlocks and witches, would never be one... I thought…"

Wealth, education, privileges... Nothing is really a warranty for someone to grow into a good, gentle person.

"I should have noticed earlier his true nature…" Blanche looked down, embarrassed. "Circe was my only friend in school, and I… believed him over her. She tried to warn me..."

Circe? Ah! She was a witch of Blanche's coven, and she was in the mating ceremony of Clara and Joshua. I think I remember her.

"I was so embarrassed that I did not contact my mother. I have had repeated her story with Damian. She did not want me to go to that school from the start. She said I was not ready to be alone in that environment… She was right, and I pushed her away... But I was going to get married to Damian, Charles was glad, he even said he was proud of me... So, I sent her the invitation to the wedding..."

" I thought it was alright if Damian yelled at me because he was not beating me… yet. He had a short temper, I knew it. And I thought..."

Oh, Goddess, this is hard to listen to. The beast would like to tear that male apart.

"Sarcastic remarks, mean jokes… That was only the start of more… Soon there were more screams, threats… I eventually thought of leaving him, but then he would look at me with so much love…”

“There were good days... and after a bad one, he apologized and even cry asking for forgiveness… And I believed him... I wanted my child to have a father so badly. I did not want him to suffer the same I did."

Blanche touched her flat tummy with trembling hands.

"I thought I deserved it... That I could manage his anger. That Damian just needed a chance to be better, and I could be his savior... I could be the strong one for the both of us."

I was clenching and unclenching my fists.

“However, I grew more and more afraid of him. Damian was scary when he got mad… His power over me was crushing my soul... He controlled everything, he controlled me… I guess I became a zombie or something like that because I allowed that to happen… Damian was the owner of the money and everything around me from the start. It was like having my head underwater…"

There was anger in her voice while tears fell from her eyes, but that anger was against herself not that Damian. He deserved that anger, that resentment, not her.

The beast I am was angry. I wanted blood! I needed blood! Charles is still in the palace; I can hurt him instead of Damian! I was about to link my guards to hold him in custody when her voice interrupted my thoughts.

"It was my fault." She broke down.

Do not move, Lycan! Do not move! Listen to your mate! She needs you here, with her, more than you need blood. Blanche is sharing her story... Do not fail her!